The Kindle Will (Finally) Get Page Numbers

Delivering on what has to be one of the most-wanted feature additions to the Kindle, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) says it’s adding “real” page numbers to books downloaded on the device. Previously, the Kindle simply showed users how far along they were and also provided them with a non-intuitive number corresponding to their “location” in a text.

The new page numbers will match the page numbers in print versions of the same text, Amazon says in a blog post. The company says it has already added them to “tens of thousands” of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestsellers.

The other changes Amazon introduced today are more minor; the company is adding a way for Kindle users to share publicly the notes and highlights they add to a book, and it’s also introducing a new layout for magazines and newspapers on the device, which will now feature “a quick snapshot of the news.”

While the addition of page numbers seems like a small addition, the lack of them has been extremely inconvenient for students and others who need to cite page numbers. It’s hard to know, though, if that’s had any impact on sales.